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Why We Love Our Toddlers
The H-E-A-R-T of the Matter
By I.J. Schecter
Toddlers are remarkably endearing creatures – they've progressed beyond the limited mobility and restricted language of infanthood but haven't yet adopted the preschooler's penchant for Machiavellian trickery and continuous negotiation. Their spontaneous hugs and kisses are unfathomably wonderful. Their mischief is sweet and, for the most part, harmless. Even their tantrums can be pretty amusing.
Yes, toddlers tickle our funny bones and melt our hearts in equal measure. In fact, the five main reasons we love them are captured in that indispensable organ itself.
"Where do I even start?" says Canadian mom Jennifer Zelovitsky, echoing the perspective of most parents of toddlers. "My 2-year-old daughter, Madeline, does a hundred funny things, but my favorite is when she 'tricks' me into giving her something – like when she says, 'Mommy, I want a cookie,' to which I reply, 'You want a cookie?' and she immediately says, 'Oh ... OK!' It's so sweet and funny how clever she finds herself."
One has to be careful, of course, with a toddler's emerging linguistic experiments, which often produce unusually creative results. "When he was just getting his words, my son, Marcus, used to call his work bench a ... well, the technical name for a female dog," says Toronto mom Francine Gerstein. "He would hammer away on it and say, 'Mommy and Daddy, I'm banging on my [blank] and he'd say that word, with great emphasis. I'm just glad we were the only ones who heard it."
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Re: Why We Love Our Toddlers by hannah on 11/20/2008 10:41PM
This is why I love this site. Cute articles like this one mixed with very informative ones. Can get it all here. I am pregnant with my second baby and also have a 3-year-old, and can relate to loving a toddler!